Note - photos are a mix of proper camera and phone...
We woke early on the Thursday, against the clock 'for a surprise' down near Mt Fuji. Breakfast was silly cheap at a Doutor coffee shop...
We were staying in Chiba as my buddy Ash is into a quieter version of Japan rather than the full onslaught of mid-city Tokyo. On the plus side, we got exactly that, a much more laid back, potentially more authentic look at Japan. On the down side it was an hour away from the heart of Tokyo via the assorted road tolls so once we left the Air BnB for the day, we didn't see it again until it was time to crash. It was my first time seeing Japan navigating by road, and on the whole my takeaway was that 1) it's really easy to drive around and a lot less big city intense that you might imagine, 2) you do need Google maps from the off even though it responds to wrong turns and re-routing more slowly than I'm used to, and 3) you see a version of Japan you'd never see while using the rail system. The rail system is awesome don't get me wrong, but it does 'pop you out' in places without much sense of what's around it. In short, don't be afraid to drive there, it was kinda awesome.
Less intense neighbourhood we stayed in:
And this is where we were going for the big surprise!
As with all circuits it seems, Fuji Speedway is kinda tucked away from anything really built up. It felt a bit like we were driving through mountain towns on the way there, and much like the 'ring, the only real sign where we were was the increasing number of motorsport shops we passed on the way in. Fuji-san wasn't visible on the day so that obvious clue wasn't there. I genuinely wasn't 100% certain where we were going (though I had a hunch) until we pulled up at the main gate.
To the main reason we were there - we got to drive the track in rented Supras. Cost was 7900 JPY to take your own car around, or 9900 JPY to hire the Supra. No brainer really... We got there a good hour before the time slot for the session, and we only just got the cars before others tried to book them. The staff member was impressed we'd flown over for Luft Tokyo which I think helped... Those staying in the Fuji Speedway hotel have access to more cars including GR Yaris, Corollas and a tuned up Tom's Supra, a good reason to stay there! The bad news is it was a track experience, so a pile of cars out behind a safety car for 3-4 laps, rather than a full blown track day. In Japan, you apparently need a Japanese race license to drive any car on track unrestricted - apparently under NZ$300 (roughly GBP140-150) to get the license and valid for a year. It's something I'd consider doing if I came for a longer trip and was visiting more tracks/hiring a car. The good news is, that no one really stops you hanging back and hoofing it around the track at any speed you want providing the safety car doesn't catch you up and you don't crash. So it's worth being near the back of the line of cars.
Needless to say Ash I both got the things sideways in that little infield section before coming back onto the main straight.
Big takeaway from the circuit itself is how much undulation, camber and elevation change there is which you simply don't pick up in SIMs. This seems a common thing... I genuinely don't like driving Fuji on my SIM setup at home, but I thought the real thing was fantastic! Apparently similar ways to drive the tracks are available at all the main circuits in Japan when big events aren't on.
From there, we visited the Fuji Speedway Hotel and Museum. Museum photos are here if you haven't seen them already. I did see this rather lovely GT86 GRMN outside the hotel which I didn't frame well with my 1 day old iPhone while I was getting used to the framing lines and the dynamic island thing, being able to see beyond the captured photo etc.
Ash had made a big noise about visiting the best katsu place ever while we were in the area. I am pleased to say he wasn't wrong. It's seemingly in the middle of nowhere, a short drive from the circuit through little back roads and motorsport shops, but is FANTASTIC. If you visit the area, go!
Google Maps link: https://maps.app.goo.gl/misABM6N8CyiKFUT7
From here we took a short drive over towards Hakone. Now I'd heard of it because of the Hakone turnpike and all the stories of the twisty AF road drifting happened on. Beyond that I knew nothing. Getting there was fun enough, and we went past the entrance for the pass but didn't have enough time to take it and get to where we needed to go before it closed. I wasn't aware normal people associate it with being where you go for onsens and hot springs. It's a gorgeous little mountainous spa town with many, many places to enjoy the hot springs and views back across the valley to Fuji. My take away would be to look in the slightly wider area for accommodation rather than paying premium prices to be right in the middle of Hakone itself. The whole area is gorgeous. It also has the only monochrome 7 Eleven:
Then back to Tokyo to go and visit the Tokyo Tower. The Sky Tree is taller and newer and gives you more expansive views of the city and wider region, but having done that last time I was pretty keen to see the much more humble, but arguably much more loved Tokyo Tower. We had a wee walk around the base looking at the buildings and views around it before going up.
It's almost a cliche to say going to Japan changes you. It's such a predictable thing to say you miss it as soon as you leave on social media afterwards, but the truth is it was twelve years since my last visit and I've missed it every day since. It's really hard to put into words why, but it's probably that so many things I personally hold dear to me are just parts of everyday life - I absolutely felt like it connected with me somehow. What I didn't expect was coming out of the lift on the viewing deck of Tokyo Tower and choking up - it took me nearly 20mins to form words to talk to Ash. I've been thinking about why since, and the best way I can describe it is that it didn't feel like coming home, because I can't speak Japanese and I'm not in tune with the customs of day-to-day life enough, but it did feel like being reunited with a very dear friend after too long apart. I now have a mini Tokyo Tower on my desk to remind me of that moment...
The Tower in seasonal sakura lighting to mark the beginning of cherry blossom season.
Token late night Lawson... (should have stopped and used the proper camera)
The Friday was shopping day basically. I won't bore you all with too much detail on this beyond saying if you're into your homeware/kitchen stuff there's only one place to go - Kappabashi Street. Unfortunately pretty tourist heavy, even with the current absence of Chinese visitors, it's a street about 1km long, shops both sides selling absolutely everything you'd ever need to supply your kitchen, from home to industrial. There was even a shop which sold only pressure cookers (in about 300 different forms). Most stores banned photos, but I did take a couple of phone snaps for a sense of the place.
If like me, you're into your Japanese knives, this is where to go. Starting at about GBP25 up and heading into the thousands, literally anything you want is available, including the honking great sashimi knives. I also saw a 5ft ice saw...
Also Mos Burger. Cheap and brilliant (and not too huge)
Kappabashi Street also has some epic side street views...
I managed to squeeze in a visit to one of the drum shops too, I won't bore anyone with those, but suffice to say I did well to come out leaving my wallet in tact. (Link to the full Flickr pages at the bottom if you wanna look)
We had dinner at an Italian place (Ash's recommendation as a regular visitor) in the basement of one of the train stations in Ginza. Heading to train station basements for food places is something I'd recommend - decent food at modest prices for all the people heading home after work. We took a stroll around the neon lights...
Marveled at some of the parking juxtaposition...
And then we saw the first taste of the event we'd travelled for, just street parked in Ginza. It made for good viewing with an ice cream...
While we were in Tokyo, we both wanted to try and see one of the car park meets. Diakoku is the infamous one everyone knows and visualises, even more so after the last week and Lewis Hamilton turning up there in an F40. Daikoku, however, is starting to lose favour with the locals, primarily because it's really easy to shut down. So we thought we'd try our luck on a Fri night at Umihotaru PA instead, the alternative the locals are turning to. It's part of the Aqua Line expressway, literally halfway in the middle of the water. On the one side you enter via a long tunnel, on the other a huge bridge, and then smack bang in the middle there's Umihotaru PA.
Google Maps link: https://maps.app.goo.gl/z7hC4PGPX5SfNcFK8
It wasn't exactly kicking off by any means, probably because it was Baltic cold with the wind coming in off the water, but there were a few nice things to have a look at:
And a cheeky late night Lawson on the way home (Also should have taken this on the proper camera...)
We were being joined by another friend flying in from Sydney, a guy called Dan. Due to the peculiarities with mate's rates flights, instead of the flight landing on Fri night as planned, he was now arriving Sat morning (the day of the Luft Tokyo event) at just before 5am, which meant a 3am start for us to get to the airport. After collection, he sold us on visiting Daikoku at dawn, basically the early bird owners taking their cars out for a morning run. So we saw Daikoku after all and even at dawn, it didn't disappoint. Worth watching the short video, to understand how several motorways all converge on this spot via big arcing connection roads. It basically makes for a natural ampitheatre...
The cleanest NSX you'll ever see. One 50-something owner from new, below 30,000km. The owner was very happy we'd shown interest in his car and gave us 'we've made his day' vibes before he left calmly and quietly.
Driving away from here, I also got my glimpse of Fuji-san. Remember you're looking at it across Tokyo here, somewhere around 180-200km away
From here we grabbed some breakfast in Ginza ahead of the main event. The view from the coffee shop gave us some great views of cars starting to pass into the city for the event, there were bloody Porsches everywhere
Happened to park on the street which is the home of the fella that pays millions for giant tuna who makes the news...
And we were wowed by how clean and smart Ginza is, along with our very first glimpses of the cherry blossoms beginning to flower
We then parked up basically underneath Sony Playstation headquarters in Ginza, as before Luft Tokyo, RUF were holding an event over the road in partnership with Gran Turismo. So a few snaps from that and an opportunity to say getting to meet and talk with Alois Ruf was very cool indeed, probably the nearest I'll ever get to 'I met Enzo once'. His wife Estonia was also lovely and very charming, but the big wow for me was getting chance to meet and talk with their daughter Aloisa Ruf, who I guess these days is beginning to become the face of RUF as Alois ages. I'd been following her work for a while, she does design work and photography and with great access to great places her work is awesome. She also really very much reminded me of who I was at uni, full of arty ideas and no real obligations - a version of myself I miss immensely from a creative point of view. Aloisa was also hands down one of the loveliest people I've ever met, totally charming and I really felt very lucky to get to chat with her. There was an offer to visit the factory if I'm ever in Germany which may well have been pleasantries, but I intend on testing if I get there...
And the car (RUF Tribute) was eye wateringly pretty. In person, less 'finished to perfection like jewelry' than the Singers, but probably a prettier, more wow car. I think if I had the money I might send it to the Rufs...
They were casually joined by a Strosek 911 and RUF CR parked on the street just outside the event...
From here we went to the main event, Luft Tokyo. Those images are here for those that haven't seen them. Just to add to that thread, here's the poorly staged 959...
From there it was a casually walk back through Ginza with some new friends we collected at the event, before we hit a yakiniku place and ate til we couldn't move.
We hit the airport early the morning after. All up we did just under two tanks of fuel in the Toyota Sienta hire car, and about GBP110 in tolls. The big takeaway from the trip is if you're going, getting around by rail is brilliant and totally to be experienced, but it does deliver you to places rather than allowing you to experience arriving at them. Driving in Japan is not to be scared of. The pedestrian crossings are the scariest bit as you're expected to stop and people and cyclists do appear from nowhere, but other than that, with a bit of patience and Google maps you'd be sweet. You need an international drivers permit obviously (and need one for the Fuji Speedway experience) but it's really easy to do. Since my last trip there, you can enter Japan using a digital arrivals system (Google for Visit Japan Web). This makes crossing the border easier, but there's also a second QR code to set up (the same as the one on your entry sticker in your passport) you can use to shop tax free in many, many places. So you need that QR code or your passport to get tax off in shopping. I used data roaming packs from my NZ phone company, but if I went for any longer I'd get a SIM at the airport.
Anyone on the fence - just fucking go. It's brilliant.
I'll leave you with one last shot I took that I'm considering framing and putting on my wall at home. Links to both proper photos, and phone snaps Flickrs are at the end if you wanna cruise some of the other snaps not posted here.
Proper photos Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/manipula/
Phone snaps Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/204385019@N03/
